MDPs May Be Dead After Enron/Andersen, But Subsidiary Businesses Thrive

While some commentators believe that the Enron and Arthur Andersen affair that came to light in 2001 is responsible for the demise of multidisciplinary practices (MDPs), the notion of law firms engaging in MDPs lost most of its momentum during the American Bar Association (ABA) debate of 1999 and 2000. Enron and Andersen weakened whatever support remained for MDPs after the ABA defeat, during which MDP opponents raised legitimate concerns. But Enron and Andersen did not derail all models in which law firms successfully provide nonlegal services. In fact, the law-related services ancillary business model (as referred to by the ABA's Commission on Multidisciplinary Practice) is much more relevant post-Enron. Ancillary businesses, or subsidiary businesses as they are referred to at the authors' law firm of Bingham McCutchen LLP, are not MDPs. When structured and managed in compliance with fundamental principles and regulations, subsidiary businesses give progressive law firms the ability to deliver a comprehensive bundle of integrated services in response to client needs .     

Book reviews

Branko Lazitch and Milorad M. Drachkovitch, Lenin and the Comintern, Volume I. Stanford, Calif.: Hoover Institution Press, 1972. (Publications Series 106.) xiii + 683 pp. $17.50.

Karl‐Eugen Wadekin, The Private Sector in Soviet Agriculture. Edited by George Karcz. Second, enlarged, revised edition of Privatproduzenten in der sowjetischen Landzoirtschaft. Translated by Keith Bush. Berkeley, Calif, and London: University of California Press, 1973. xviii + 407 pp. $17.50.

Richard H. Ullman, The Anglo‐Soviet Accord. (Vol. III of Anglo‐Soviet Relations, 1917–1921.) Princeton, N.J. and London: Princeton UP, 1972. xv + 509 pp. £7.00.

Eloise Engle and Lauri Paananen, The Winter War. (The Russo‐Finnish Conflict, 1939–40.) New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973. xv+176 pp. $7.95.

Allen F. Chew, The White Death: the Epic of the Soviet‐Finnish Winter War. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1971. x + 313 pp. $12.50.

Geoffrey Jukes, The Soviet Union in Asia. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1973. 304 pp. £2.95.

Jaroslaw A. Piekalkiewicz, Public Opinion Polling in Czechoslovakia, 1968–69. Results and Analysis of Surveys Conducted During the Dubcek Era. (Praeger Special Studies in International Politics and Government.) New York: Praeger Publishers, 1972, and London: Pall Mall Press, 1973. xxix + 357 pp. £7.75.

Deborah D. Milenkovitch, Plan and Market in Yugoslav Economic Thought. New Haven and London: Yale UP, 1971. (Yale Russian and East European Studies, 9.) x + 323 pp. $10.00. £4.50.

Robert G. Wesson, The Soviet Russian State. New York and London: John Wiley & Sons, 1972. x + 404 pp. £4.00. Condensed edition £1.95.

Joseph Nedava, Trotsky and the Jews. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1972. 299 pp. $6.00.

Joshua Rothenberg, The Jewish Religion in the Soviet Union. New York: KTAV Publishing House (for Brandeis University), 1972. (Series: Institute for East European Jewish Studies.) viii + 242 pp. $10.00.

Vladimir Petrov, Escape from the Future. Bloomington & London: Indiana UP, 1973. xiii + 470 pp. £3.75.     

Defending the Semantic Interpretation: A Reply to Ferraro

In a recent article in this journal, Giuseppe Ferraro mounted a sustained attack on the semantic interpretation of the Madhyamaka doctrine of emptiness, an interpretation that has been championed by the authors. The present paper is their reply to that attack.     

Forensic Discrimination of Dyed Hair Color: II. Multivariate Statistical Analysis*,†

Abstract: This research is intended to assess the ability of UV–visible microspectrophotometry to successfully discriminate the color of dyed hair. Fifty‐five red hair dyes were analyzed and evaluated using multivariate statistical techniques including agglomerative hierarchical clustering (AHC), principal component analysis (PCA), and discriminant analysis (DA). The spectra were grouped into three classes, which were visually consistent with different shades of red. A two‐dimensional PCA observations plot was constructed, describing 78.6% of the overall variance. The wavelength regions associated with the absorbance of hair and dye were highly correlated. Principal components were selected to represent 95% of the overall variance for analysis with DA. A classification accuracy of 89% was observed for the comprehensive dye set, while external validation using 20 of the dyes resulted in a prediction accuracy of 75%. Significant color loss from successive washing of hair samples was estimated to occur within 3 weeks of dye application.     

Can Civil Society Organizations Solve the Crisis of Partisan Representation in Latin America?

This article takes up the question of whether civil society organizations (CSOs) can and do act as mechanisms of representation in times of party crisis. It looks at recent representation practices in Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil, three countries where political parties have experienced sharp crises after several decades of mixed reviews for their party systems. At such moments, any replacement of parties by CSOs should be especially apparent. This study concludes that the degree of crisis determines the extent that CSOs' representative functions replace partisan representation, at least in the short term. Where systems show signs of re‐equilibration, CSOs offer alternative mechanisms through which citizens can influence political outcomes without seeking to replace parties. Where crisis is profound, CSOs claim some of the basic party functions but do not necessarily solve the problems of partisan representation.